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168 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
known to plead from fifteen to twenty causes in one day. Some idea of the
influence and high character to which he had attained as an advocate may be
gathered from the couplet in the " Court of Session Garland," by Boswel1:-
'' However of our cause not being ashamed,
Unto the whole Lords we straightway reclaimed ;
And our petition was appointed to be seen,
Because it was dram by Robbie M'Queen,
On the death of Lord Coalston, in 1766, Mr. M'Queen was elevated to the
bench by the title of Lord Braxfield-an appointment, it is said, he accepted
witth considerable reluctance, being in receipt of a much larger professional
income. He was prevailed upon, however, to accept the gown, by the repeated
entreaties of Lord President Dundas,' and the Lord Advocate, afterwards Lord
Melville. In 1780 he was also appointed a Lord Commissioner of Justiciary;
and in 1787 was still more highly honoured by being promoted to the important
office of Lord Justice-clerk of Scotland.
Lord Braxfield was equally distinguished on the bench as he had been at
the bar. He attended to his duties with the utmost regularity, daily making
his appearance in court, even during winter, by nine o'clock in the morning ; and
it seemed in him a prominent and honourable principle of action to mitigate the
evils of the " law's delay," by a despatch of decision, which will appear the more
extraordinary, considering the number of causes brought before him while he sat
as the Judge Ordinary of the Outer House.
As Lord Justice-clerk, he presided at the trials of Muir, Palmer, Skirving,
Margarot, Gerald, etc. in 1793-4. At a period so critical and so alarming to all
settled governments, the situation of Lord Justice-clerk was one of peculiar
responsibility, and indeed of such a nature as to preclude the possibility of
giving entire satisfaction. During this eventful period Lord Braxfield discharged
what he conceived to be his duty with firmness, and in accordance to the
letter and spirit of the law, if not always with that leniency and moderation
which in the present day would have been esteemed essential.
The conduct of Lord Braxfield, during these memorable trials, has indeed
been freely censured in recent times as having been distinguished by great
and unnecessary severity ; but the truth is, he was extremely well fitted for the
crisis in which he was called on to perform so conspicuous a part, ; for, by the
bold and fearless front he assumed, at a time when almost every other person
in authority quailed beneath the gathering storm, he contributed not a little to
curb the lawless spirit that was abroad, and which threatened a repetition of
that reign of terror and anarchy which so fearfully devastated a neighbouring
country. But if the conduct of his lordship in those trying times was thus
" Mr. M'Queen had contracted an intimacy with Mr, Dundas, afterwards Lord President of the
Court of Session, and his brother, Lord Melville, at a very early period of life. The Lord President,
when at the bar, married the heiress of Bounington, an estate situated within a mile of Braxfield.
During the recesses of the Court, these eminent men used to meet at their country seats and read ,
and studied law together. This intimacy, so honourable and advantageous to both, continued through
life."